The Federal Government banned all Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft from operating into, out of or over Nigerian airspace on 13 March 2019, three days after an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board, including two Nigerians. Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika announced the ban to State House correspondents following a Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
No Local Operator Affected, But a Precaution Regardless
Sirika said no Nigerian carrier currently operated the aircraft type, framing the ban as precautionary rather than a response to a domestic safety gap. He noted that Air Peace and Arik Air held orders for the 737 MAX but that deliveries were not expected for roughly two years, giving Boeing time to resolve whatever had caused the back-to-back crashes involving the type, following an earlier Lion Air 737 MAX crash in Indonesia in October 2018.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority issued a formal advisory barring any operator from flying the type into or out of the country pending the outcome of the crash investigation and Boeing's response, joining a rapidly growing list of regulators worldwide, including the UK, the European Union, China, Singapore and Australia, that grounded or barred the aircraft within days of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. The FEC meeting separately approved roughly N4.5 billion for security equipment, including X-ray machines and cargo scanners, for airports in Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.